Keyboard providing serial generation of two different codes responsive to one key depression



Oct. 24, 1967 D FREHETTE 3,348,648

' KEYBOARD PROVIDING SERIAL GENERATIONOF TWO DIFFERENT CODES RESPONSIVE TO ONE KEY DEPRESSION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 8, 1966 Fig-1 INVENTOR KENNETH R. FRECHETTE BY CE (SD gm ATTORNEYS Oct. 24,1967 K. R. FRECHETTE KEYBOARD PROVIDING SERIAL GENERATION OF TWO DIFFERENT CODES RESPONSIVE TO ONE KEY DEPRESSION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 8, 1966 Fig-3 25 74 77 27 M g/ i I I I INVENTOR KENNETH R. FRECHETTE $99M w a,

F ig..4' ZO/LLI ATTORNEYS United States Patent ()fiice 3,348,648 Patented Oct. 24, 1967 3,348,648 KEYBOARD PROVIDING SERIAL GENERATION OF TWO DIFFERENT CODES RESPONSIVE TO ONE KEY DEPRESSION Kenneth R. Frechette, Bristol, Conn., assignor to Royal Typewriter Company, Inc., Hartford, Conn., a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 8, 1966, Ser. No. 570,827 2 Claims. (Cl. 19716) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A code generating keyboard having key controlled mechanism for effecting a serial generation of two distinct codes in response to depression of a single key. The movement of a first code generating element, initiated by key depression, is operative after generation of its representative code to rock a lever which initiates the movement of a second code generating element.

This invention relates to code generating keyboards; more particularly it relates to a code generating keyboard having key actuated mechanisms for effecting the serial generation of two distinct codes in response to a single key depression; and specifically it relates to a code generating keyboard having a carriage return code generating element operably positioned by a carriage return key to initiate a cycle of and to be driven by a power element, and mechanism responsive to movement of a carriage return code generating element for operably positioning a line feed code generating element which will thereby recycle and be driven by the power element to generate a line feed code following the generation of a carriage return code.

In conventional office typewriting machines a line feed function is a by-product of the initiation of a carriage return function; thus these machines are not provided with a separate line feed key lever. That is, when a carriage return function is initiated, a motor is clutched to the carriage via a draw-band thereby to pull the carriage. The drawband is operative on the line fed mechanism before carriage movement starts; the line feed mechanism completing its return stroke after the carriage is arrested and the clutch disengaged.

Some data processing machines, as distinguished from ofiice typewriting machines, include means to generate by-product codes representative of the keys on a keyboard. Such codes are usually recorded on tapes for later utilization to automatically operate other machines. These machines follow the scheme employed in oifice machines in that the line feed function is a by-product of carriage return key depression. In these machines there is no necessity for and they therefore do not produce a line feed code but only a carriage return code. If a line feed code is specified as a desired output, these machines must be provided with a separate line feed key and the line feed function must be divorced from the carriage return function.

The latter scheme, i.e. the provision of a separate index and carriage return keys to produce associated codes and functions is followed in teletype machines adapted for by-product code generation and transmission. These separate keys must be depressed serially to accomplish the related functions and codes. Usually the operators of these machines are trained to depress the carriage and line feed keys in sequence.

The machines discussed above are generally characterized by keyboards married to printers, i.e. the keys are mechanically linked to and trigger associated print actions and machine functions. The codes are byproducts, i.e.

the codes are not employed to select the character printed.

In recent years data processing machines comprising mechanically divorced code producing keyboards and printers have been proposed; the keyboards in these modular machines are separate units whose function is to generate codes which may be coupled either mechanically or electrically to a translator within one or more remote printers to select and print a character, or one or more remote tape recording devices to record a code.

In that such data processing machines with code producing keyboards have now moved into the office and their operation is falling to operators trained to use office machines, it is desirable that an operator be able to shift from a data processing machine keyboard to an oflice machine keyboard without having to remember different rules, particularly in systems whose specifications require a line feed code.

In accordance with the invention a code producing keyboard is provide-d which is manipulatable in the same fashion as a conventional office machine keyboard, and produces a carriage return and a line feed code in sequence upon manipulation of the carriage return key only.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a code generating keyboard having the ability to generate a line feed code in response to depression of a line feed key or in response to depression of a carriage return key following the generation thereby of a carriage return code.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple inexpensive coupling between a carriage return code generating element and a line feed code generating element so arranged that a line feed code will be automatically generated after the generation of the carriage return code.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the figures thereof and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of a carriage return key lever and associated code producing element associated with a lever for effecting rocking of an adjacent line feed code producing element;

FIGURE 2 is an elevational view similar to FIGURE 1 showing the carriage return code producing element rocked and latched in position for power driven translatory movement;

FIGURE 3 is an elevational view similar to FIGURE 1 showing the carriage return code producing element in forward returned position and the line feed code producing element rocked to latched position during the translatory movement of the carriage return code producing element;

FIGURE 4 is a cut away plan view of several code slides and an interposer; and

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a cycle clutch mechanism.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views there is shown in FIGURE 1 a carriage return key 10 which is mounted on a key lever 11. Other keys 12 are mounted on other key levers comprising the keyboard complement of a code producing keyboard in accordance with the invention. The rear ends of the key levers are pivoted on a common'transverse fulcrum 13 and biased counterclockwise to a normal position against an upstop 14 lying above the forward ends 15 of the key levers by springs 16 connected to the downwardly depending tails 17 of the key levers and to a common transverse anchor rod 18.

mutably located cam notches 21 (FIGURE 4) of a set of bistable code slides 22 which are mounted for transverse movement. The movement of the interposers will cam selected ones of the code slides to the right (binary or the left (binary 1) or not at all, depending on the previous condition of the code slides as illustrated in FIGURE 4, thus making or breaking switches (not shown) positioned at one end of the code slides.

Referring again to FIGURE 1 the interposer 19 is formed with a forked forward end 23 which embraces a common frame supported transverse fulcrum rod 24 located below the forward end of the keylevers and below and rearwardly of a keylever downstop 25.

The upper edge of the interposer rearwardly or to the right of the forked end as viewed in the FIGURES 1-3, is formed with an upstanding post 26 which underlies a bent off lug 27 of a by-pass arm 28 pivotally secured to the key lever. A spring 29 secured at one end to and below the pivot of the by-pass arm and to the upper edge of the interposer rearwardly of the post serves to bias the by-pass arm counterclockwise the counterclockwise movement being limited by a bent off lug 30 of the by-pass arm which overlies the upper edge of the key lever.

The spring 29 also serves to bias the interposer 19 forwardly and counterclockwise or upwardly about its fulcrum 24. The rear end of the interposer is supported for planar movement in frame supported upper and lower guide combs 31 and 32 and the rear edge 20 of the interposer which is adapted to be driven into cam notches 21 of and to cam code slides 22, is provided on its lower end with a forward projection 33 which extends into the lower guide comb 32; the upper edge 34 of the comb serving to limit the counterclockwise movement of the interposer. Thus depression of the key lever 11 will bring the by-pass arm 28 into engagement with the interposer post 26 and rock the interposer 19 clockwise about fulcrum rod 24; the geometry of the parts being such that spring 29 offers negligible resistance to rocking movement of the interposer.

The lower edge of the interposer rearwardly of the post 26 is provided with a depending part 35 having a forwardly and upwardly sloping edge 36 adapted when the interposer is rocked clockwise to cammingly depress and rock a common clutch trigger bail 37 to effect cycle clutch engagement, the forwardly offset ends 38 of which, as shown in FIGURE 5, are pivotally mounted in the side frames 40 of the machine. The depending part 35 is also formed with a projection 39 extending forwardly of the sloping edge which normally abuts a cross piece 41 of and forwardly flexes an associated flexible latching element 42 extending upwardly from a fixed support 43. An opening 44 in the flexible latching element 42 below the cross piece serves to trap the interposer and latch it in its fully rocked position as shown in FIGURE 2 after the clutch trigger bail 37 has rocked sufficiently to trip a cycle clutch and initiate a 180 cycle of an interposer drive shaft 45 I rotatably mounted in side frames 40 and located to drive interposers as will hereinafter appear.

The lower edge of the interposer rearwardly of the clutch trigger actuator and interposer latch part is formed with a depending spade-like projection 46 adapted to cooperate with a conventional ball interlock assembly generally designated by reference 47 thus to prevent the simultaneous or near simultaneous depression of more than one key lever to an extent sufficient to initiate a cycle.

Further, the lower edge of the interposer rearwardly of the locking blade is formed with a cut out to define a forwardly facing shoulder or drive surface 48 facing and adapted to be engaged and to be driven rearwardly by 180 spaced interposer drive lobes 49 on the interposer drive shaft which is rotated through a half revolution when a cycle clutch is triggered. The cut out further defines 21 depending abutment 50 rearwardly of the locking blade which is adapted to be engaged by the lobes 49 toward the end of a 180 cycle, thereby to drive the interposer upwardly so that the locking blade will clear the ball lock as spring 29 returns the associated interposers to normal position.

With reference to FIGURE 5, one end 38 of the clutch trigger bail 37 carries a lever 51 which is connected as by a link 52 to rock a pivotally mounted clutch interposer 53 counterclockwise against the bias of a spring 54 whereby the end 55 of the clutch interposer will move out of the path of 180 spaced peripheral shoulders 56 on a clutch control disc 57. The clutch control disc 57 is rotatably mounted on a sleeve 58 extending from a continuously belt driven pulley 59. The pulley and sleeve are rotatably supported by a stub shaft 60 extending from the machine frame 40. Another clutch control disc 61 formed with oppositely facing peripheral 180 spaced shoulders 62 is also rotatably mounted on sleeve 58, and a pivotally mounted no-back interposer 63 is biased in the path of the shoulders thereof. The control discs 57 and 61 secure opposite ends of a wrap spring 64 which is coiled about the driven sleeve 58. With the clutch interposer end 55 in the path of a shoulder 56 on the clutch control disc 57, the counterclockwise rotation of the sleeve will cause the spring 64 to expand and disengage from the sleeve.

' When the control disc 57 is free to rotate by rocking interposer 53 counterclockwise, the coil spring 64 will engagingly wrap about sleeve 58 thereby driving both clutch control discs over a cycle. As is evident, should a second key be depressed and latched during one cycle, the clutch will remain engaged to drive the second inter-poser. The clutch control disc 61 is integrally formed with or secured to a gear 66 which is in mesh with and drives a gear 67 secured to one end of the interposer drive shaft 45.

With reference to FIGURES 2 and 3 there is shown a line feed interposer identical to and adjacent the carriage return interposer. As they are identical, corresponding parts of the line feed interposer are designated by primed reference numerals. The line feed interposer 19', in order to provide a keyboard similar to that of a conventional office typewriter, will normally not be associated with a key lever, though if a separate line feed key to produce line feed codes is desired, a key lever therefor may be provided. Where no key lever is provided with the line feed interposer 19, the latter will be biased to normal position by a spring 72 secured to the projection 33' extending forwardly of the rear end of the line feed interposer as shown.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a lever 73 pivotally mounted on the interposer fulcrum shaft 24 having an upwardly extending projection 74 and a forwardly and downwardly extending projection 75, the latter having an offset end 76 overlying the upper'edge of the line feed interposer 19 rearwardly of the fulcrum shaft. The upwardly extending projection is connected by a spring 77 to the upper edge of the carriage return in-' terposer 19 forward of its post 26.

As viewed in FIGURE 2 the initial rocking of the carriage return interposer rotates the spring 77 through an arc and negligible pressure is applied by lever 73 to rock the line feed interposer 19'. As the carriage return interposer 19 moves rearwardly the spring connection tends to rock the lever 73 clockwise but substantial rocking of the line feed interposer is prevented by the ball lock 47, and by the engagement of the horizontal edge 78 defining the interposer drive shoulder with the periphery of the interposer drive shaft 45 until the carriage return interposer 19 completes its rearwardly powered translatory movement. At this time the line feed interposer 19' will be permitted to move to its fully rocked and latched position thus redepressing the clutch trigger bail 37 to maintain the clutch engaged for another 180 cycle during which time the line feed interposer 19 will be translated rearwardly; its associated latch element maintaining the line feed interposer 19' rocked during the return movement of the carriage return interposer 19 and the line feed interposer actuating lever 73.

As will be understood the returning carriage return interposer 19 will rock the by-pass arm 28 clockwise if the carriage return key lever is still held depressed thus preventing a repeat action.

It should be understood that the foregoing disclosure relates to only a preferred embodiment of the invention and that it is intended to cover all changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for the purposes of the disclosure which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The invention claimed is:

1. A code generating keyboard comprising,

a frame,

a keylever and an interposer fulcrum rod supported by said frame,

a plurality of keylevers pivotally supported by said keylever fulcrum rod,

an interposer beneath each of said keylevers rockably supported by said interposer fulcrum rod and power translatable relative thereto, said interposers being rockable from a restored to an active position in response to depression of its associated keylever through a normal distance, a spring for restoring each of said interposers after translatory movement thereof,

a cyclically operable shaft for power translating a rocked interposer to generate a respresentative code,

means for preventing the rocking of a second interposer until a first rocked interposer has been translated by said shaft,

means for latching a rocked interposer and for releasing a said rocked interposer as it is translated thereby permitting another interposer to be rocked,

means responsive to the rocking movement of an interposer for cycling said shaft,

a lever pivoted on said interposer fulcrum rod having an offset overlying one of said interposers located adjacent a redetermined interposer,

and a spring connected between said predetermined interposer and said lever operative toward the end of powered translatory movement of said predetermined interposer to rock said lever to thereby rock the said one interposer adjacent the predetermined interposer.

2. A keyboard as recited in claim 1 wherein said predetermined interposer is rockable by a carriage return key and said one interposer adjacent said predetermined interposer is operative to generate a line feed code.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,859,851 11/1958 Tholstrup et a1. 19720 3,195,707 7/1965 Reynard 19716 3,289,804 12/1966 Schaefer 197-16 XR ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner.

E. S. BURR, Examiner. 

1. A CODE GENERATING KEYBOARD COMPRISING, A FRAME, A KEYLEVER AND AN INTERPOSER FULCRUM ROD SUPPORTED BY SAID FRAME, A PLURALITY OF KEYLEVERS PIVOTALLY SUPPORTED BY SAID KEYLEVER FULCRUM ROD, AN INTERPOSER BENEATH EACH OF SAID KEYLEVERS ROCKABLY SUPPORTED BY SAID INTERPOSER FULCRUM ROD AND POWER TRRANSLATABLE RELATIVE THERETO, SAID INTERPOSERS BEING ROCKABLE FROM A RESTORED TO AN ACTIVE POSITION IN RESPONSE TO DEPRESSION OF ITS ASSOCIATED KEYLEVER THROUGH A NORMAL DISTANCE, A SPRING FOR RESTORING EACH OF SAID INTERPOSERS AFTERA TRANSLATORY MOVEMENT THEREOF, A CYCLICALLY OPERABLE SHAFT FOR POWER TRANSLATING A ROCKED INTERPOSER TO GENERATE A REPRESENTATIVE CODE, MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE ROCKING OF A SECOND INTERPOSER UNTIL A FIRST ROCKED INTERPOSER HAS BEEN TRANSLATED BY SAID SHAFT, MEANS FOR LATCHING A ROCKED INTERPOSER AND FOR RELEASING A SAID ROCKED INTERPOSER AS ITS IS TRANSLATED THERENY PERMITTING ANOTHER INTERPOSER TO BE ROCKED, 